I'm curious about the non-comp-tip mast issue as well. I'm all for improving the boats over time, but I don't think it's fair to change the rules to say "you older boats need to buy expensive new equipment to even meet the new boat specs." I think older boats (cough cough my 1972 H16 cough cough) should be grandfathered-in.

I'm sure my boat will be slower than a 2004 H16 so I think the aluminum-masted boats are hardly a threat. It'd just be fun to race against other Hobies.

Just my 2¢, with a realization that my humble opinion is unlikely to change anything.

Hobie Cat Provided free retrofits for several years after they started installing comptips, then up until about 2 years ago they sold them at a discounted price, I think a Hobie 16 was around $250. So Hobie Cat did make a good effort to upgrade everyone's equipment to the current production equipment. I know this is all after the fact and it does not help you out much now. You may want to start looking for a used mast with a comptip, you can prob. get one for around $300 bucks.